U.S. Postal Service still looking for ballots lost while in transit to voters

The U.S. Postal Service is still searching for hundreds of Whitman County vote-by-mail ballots that never reached constituents.

Sandy Jamison, the Whitman County Auditor, said she’s checked with postal service personnel every day since an investigation was initiated. They haven’t been able to provide an update, and don’t know where the ballots may have gone.

Jamison announced in a news release Tuesday around 250 ballots, most addressed to P.O. Boxes in Garfield, went missing after being processed by the postal service. She verified all Whitman County ballots were sent Oct. 16 and were successfully scanned by the main Spokane postal office.

Postal service employees are retracing the distribution route to hopefully reveal the missing ballots’ location.

Jamison is investigating the matter, and has a goal to make sure every Whitman County registered voter receives a ballot to participate in the election.

She estimates 60 voters have requested replacement ballots, although she said it’s challenging to track an exact total.

Constituents who haven’t received a ballot need to call the auditor’s office at (509) 397-5284 to be issued another by Election Day on Nov. 5. Voters can also print out a replacement ballot by signing into VoteWA.gov.